Network and information security are two areas that have grown increasingly important in communication environments. The threat of external agents such as viruses, worms, Trojans and other damaging elements pose a serious risk to computer system architectures and end users alike. If not contained properly, these damaging elements may wreak havoc on network systems by disrupting communication flows, violating privacy, compromising the integrity of information within the system, or corrupting data residing on the network architecture.
Several strategies have been employed to combat the negative effects of these harmful external agents; however, some of these strategies are limited in that they only address certain types of attacks, which must be generated from specific locations. In addition, many of these strategies suffer from providing only minimal protection at limited areas within the network system. Moreover, many of these strategies are slow in identifying and containing harmful elements that may have entered the network. Also, many of these strategies are generally ineffective because of their predictability in how their corresponding security tactics and protocols are implemented. The predictable nature of these approaches allows hackers to easily pinpoint areas of vulnerability within an associated system and attack those areas such that damaging elements can penetrate a network undetected by the existing security elements.